A. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to methods and apparatus for facilitating evacuation of people from burning buildings. More particularly, the invention relates to a portable apparatus which is moved into sealing contact with a hallway opening or doorway of a burning building to block heat, smoke and noxious combustion gases produced by a fire located upstream of the opening from passing into areas of the building downstream from the hallway opening, while enabling people to transit safely through the apparatus to exit the building.
B. Description of Background Art
Fires occurring in buildings occupied by people are often initially confined to a relatively small area, enabling occupants to safely escape, provided the building is equipped with suitable alarm systems and evacuation routes. However, even if a building fire is initially confined to a relatively small area, and relatively slow moving, smoke, noxious combustion products and heat produced by the fire can travel relatively quickly from the fire to other parts of the building. Even relatively small amounts of smoke can obscure a person""s vision and impede his or her safe evacuation from the building. Of even greater concern is the fact that inhalation of sufficient quantities of smoke, gaseous combustion products, or even hot air can and frequently does result in death. Accordingly, when a fire breaks out in a building, it is desirable to confine products of the fire as well as the fire itself to its area of origin, to facilitate safe evacuation of the building. Therefore, buildings occupied by people are sometimes provided with relatively large and heavy fire doors that are manually or automatically closed when a fire breaks out in a building to inhibit the spread of a fire, and to inhibit heat, smoke, and noxious gases produced by the fire from rapidly diffusing throughout the building. Besides being relatively difficult to open by individuals who do not have great physical strength, fire doors undesirably pose no barrier to heat, smoke, and noxious combustion gases when opened by an individual to exit through the doorway.
The present inventor is aware of two prior art systems which use water to inhibit movement of heat, smoke and hot gases through a tunnel or other occupied structure, thus facilitating safe evacuation of humans from the structure. Thus, Hattori, U.S. Pat. No. 4,077,474, Mar. 7, 1978, Flame And Smoke Shutoff System, discloses a flame and smoke shutoff system which uses a curtain made of flexible, non-flammable material. The curtain drops down from the ceiling to a floor of a building passageway in the event of a fire, and a mixture of water and a bubbling agent is made to flow down the curtain to check the spread of flame and smoke, while allowing individuals to raise the curtain temporarily and step through to escape. Mxc3xchlenbruck, in PCT Publication No. WO0180954, published Nov. 1, 2001, discloses a system for facilitating escape from a tunnel which might otherwise be filled with smoke and hot gases, the system utilizing a series of water mist curtains sprayed from the tunnel ceiling.
The present invention was conceived of to provide a life-saving fire exit apparatus and method for use in buildings which provides a positive barrier to smoke and hot gases emanating from a fire in a building, while enabling easy and safe transit of individuals through the barrier to smoke-free regions of the building, thereby facilitating safe evacuation of the building.
An object of the present invention is to provide a life saving fire exit apparatus for facilitating evacuation of humans from a burning building, the apparatus including a barrier for confining smoke and hot gases to the locality of a fire, while permitting ready egress of individuals through the barrier.
Another object of the invention is to provide a life saving fire exit apparatus for buildings which includes a water trap for smoke and hot gases which permits ready egress through the trap by an individual to evacuate the building.
Another object of the invention is to provide a life saving fire exit apparatus for buildings which includes a water-filled pool, and a wall or baffle which protrudes downwardly from a building ceiling, the baffle having a lower transverse disposed edge below the surface of water in the pool to thereby form with the water a smoke impervious, air-lock type barrier, and entrance and exit steps to the pool which facilitate an individual""s stepping into the pool, ducking his or her head into the water beneath the lower edge of the baffle, stepping under the baffle and stepping out of the pool to thereby enter relatively smoke-free areas and safely exit the building.
Another object of the invention is to provide methods for blocking smoke and hot gases emanating from a fire within a building from traveling through a building passageway, while enabling individuals to pass readily through the passageway, the method comprising the steps of positioning a pool of water in an exit passageway of a building, positioning a vertically disposed baffle transversely across the passageway in hermetically sealing contact with water in the pool and adjacent passageway walls, and providing means such as entrance and exit stairways or stepladders for facilitating an individual""s entering the pool, ducking his or her head into the water beneath one side of the baffle, moving underneath the baffle, and exiting from the pool on the opposite side of the baffle.
Various other objects and advantages of the present invention, and its most novel features, will become apparent to those skilled in the art by perusing the accompanying specification, drawings and claims.
It is to be understood that although the invention disclosed herein is fully capable of achieving the objects and providing the advantages described, the characteristics of the invention described herein are merely illustrative of the preferred embodiments. Accordingly, I do not intend that the scope of my exclusive rights and privileges in the invention be limited to details of the embodiments described. I do intend that equivalents, adaptations and modifications of the invention reasonably inferable from the description contained herein be included within the scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.
Briefly stated, the present invention comprehends a life saving fire exit apparatus and method which facilitates the safe evacuation of a building in which a fire producing heat, smoke and noxious gases has broken out.
A life saving fire exit apparatus according to the present invention includes a portable enclosure which contains shallow, generally rectangularly shaped open-top tank similar to a wading pool or spa, which contains water, and a vertically oriented baffle disposed transversely across the width of the tank which has a lower edge immersed beneath the surface of water in the tank, the baffle extending to the ceiling of the enclosure. The baffle spans the width of the enclosure, and is in air-tight contact with the side walls and ceiling thereof. Also, the enclosure includes an entrance opening hermetically sealable to a building passageway opening such as a hallway opening, when the enclosure is moved into position adjacent to the opening. The enclosure contains a short entrance stairway located on an entrance side of the pool, and a short exit stairway located at the opposite side of the pool, on the other side of the baffle.
The enclosure has a peripheral seal around the entrance opening thereof, which, when positioned in hermetically sealing contact with a hallway opening, cooperates with water in the tank and the baffle immersed in the water to form an air-lock type barrier which blocks the passage of smoke and noxious gases through the hallway opening. As is explained below, the barrier is not breached by an individual transiting through the barrier.
In a main embodiment of the life saving fire exit apparatus according to the present invention, the vertically disposed baffle has the form of a V-shaped trough or channel made of a rigid material such as a stainless steel plate bent at an acute angle to form a pair of side panels, the lower vertex portion of which contains water maintained at the same level as that in the pool. A pair of longitudinally aligned, fire-proof windows, one in each of the side panels of the baffle, enable individuals on either side of the baffle to visually assess conditions on the other side thereof. In an alternate embodiment of the apparatus, the solid baffle is replaced by one or more curtains of water flowing from one or more manifolds disposed transversely beneath the ceiling of the enclosure, water being pumped up to the manifold from a step-through holding tank and flowing back into the tank in a closed loop, re-circulating system. In that embodiment, the water level in the tank can be substantially lower than that of the solid baffle embodiment, thus, the tank can be much shallower, and not require entrance or exit steps.
According to another aspect of the invention, a method of inhibiting wide dispersal of smoke and noxious gases from a fire in a building, while enabling people to evacuate the building comprises positioning a pool of water within a passageway within the building, positioning a baffle in hermetically sealing contact with side walls and ceiling of the passageway, the baffle being disposed vertically downwards from the ceiling with the lower edge of the baffle immersed beneath the surface of water in the pool, and providing an access path through the pool which enables an individual to readily step into the pool, duck his or her head into the water beneath the lower edge of the baffle, walk through the water underneath the baffle, and step out of the pool to a smoke-free evacuation route from the building.